MINUTES
Division of Analytical Chemistry, 226th National ACS Meeting
New York, New York
DAC Executive Committee Meeting
Saturday, Sept. 6th 2003, 1:00 – 5:00 pm
Javits Convention Center, Rm. 1A02
Members present: J. Richardson, A. Ribes, S. Petrovic, C. Fenselau, J. Callahan, V.
McGuffin, S. Stafford, H. Blount, M. Buchanan, C. Wilkins, D. Pinkston, B. Denton; P.
Edmiston, and R. Hirsch; M. Williams and L. Zubitsky, guests.
1. Call to Order: the meeting was called to order at 1:00 pm by David Pinkston; all
members of the committee were introduced.
2. Approval of Minutes: the Spring 2003 minutes were approved on a
Wilkins/Denton motion.
3. Officer Reports
3.1 Chair: Bonner Denton reported (for Pinkston) on the NY programming. 19
sessions sponsored by the Division will include several focusing on
Homeland Defense. There are also 5 co-sponsored sessions.
3.2 Chair-elect: Denton reported on the programming for the Anaheim meeting
(Spring 2004). Nanoscale technology will be the focus, with a total of 20
sessions, with 9 additional co-sponsored sessions.
3.3 Secretary: John Richardson reported on the division elections. John
Carnahan will be the new Chair-elect, Steven Petrovic will be the new
Secretary, Alanah Fitch and Roland Hirsch were elected as Councilors, and
Charlie Wilkins will be the Alternate Councilor. Richardson also stressed the
need for more efficient balloting, preferably using electronic means.
3.4 Treasurer: Al Ribes (for C. Ribes) reported on the budget. The Division
continues to operate in the black through 2003. Highlights discussed are the
increased allotment for ACS Registration, as well as a decrease in the
Newsletter budget in view of the savings expected with the new electronic
newsletter to be initiated in Spring of 2003. A budget surplus of about $13k
is expected for 2003. In light of this surplus, there was discussion about
whether to increase the Registration allotment to $64k to better cover the
costs of symposia speakers. A Denton/Fenselau motion to increase the
allotment thusly passed unanimously. A Wilkins/Fenselau motion to approve
the budget as amended also passed.
3.5 Councilors: Stafford reported that the new fund allotment petition between
Local Sections and Divisions passed. An increase in monetary support for
divisions is expected, and will build up incrementally. This discussion led to
a discussion of collaborating more closely with local sections.
4. Marian Williams from ACS reported on the process involved in potentially
moving toward on-line balloting. She reported that this is not a new idea, and that
other divisions have looked into the associated by-law considerations. The
Inorganic Division has started a pilot project to adopt electronic balloting, and
their by-law amendments are up for consideration at this meeting. Potential
problems include lack of vendors high costs, but several divisions are looking into
adopting electronic balloting. A. Ribes has so far found four vendors and has
several price quotes from one of these. Ribes will continue to acquire quotes and
keep us on track with this project. McGuffin offered that the subdivision might
attempt the pilot project in advance of the Division. No by-law revision will be
required to join the pilot program. Ribes reported that a full-service approach
would cost about $10k, but it could be done for about $3500 provided the
Division be in charge of distributing and counting any remaining paper ballots.
5. Subdivision of Chromatography and Separations Chemistry: V. McGuffin
reported on the Subdivision elections. B. Bidlingmeyer and S. Olesik were reelected to the Executive Committee, and D. Raynie and S. Wise were elected as
new members. She also reported on the Award for Young Investigators in
Separation Science, which will be presented at Pittcon beginning in 2005. Agilent
Technologies has offered to sponsor the award for at least three years. Awards
will be solicited beginning Nov. 1 of this year for the inaugural 2004 award. On a
different note, the Subdivision has arranged two half-day symposia for New York.
At the Anaheim meeting in Spring 2004, there will be three half-day symposia
sponsored by the Subdivision, as well as one joint session jointly sponsored with
AGRO. Finally, several Subdivision by-laws changes are being considered.
These include electronic submission of abstracts, and changes in the terms of
office for Chair and Chair-elect.
6. Committee Reports:
6.1 Program Planning: Catherine Fenselau reported that the committee is
working two meetings ahead and has a list of potential topics for three
meetings ahead. Denton was congratulated for keeping so far ahead on the
planning and spearheading this effort.
6.2 Awards and Canvassing: Fenselau reported that six awards will be given at
the New York Fall 2003 meeting. The Division is sponsoring the
Spectrochemical Award this year, but a sponsor must be found immediately
to keep the award active. She also has petitioned all judges (54) to suggest
potential nominees for awards. She also asked the Executive Committee for
potential nominations. Award candidates have also been solicited in the
Newsletter.
6.3 Education: Paul Edmiston mentioned that more nominations are needed for
the Pfizer Awards. He will be contacting individual department chairs as a
means of advertising the program. The program needs to remain active, as
Pfizer wants to negotiate support for the program on a yearly basis.
6.4 Financial Planning: Fenselau reported that we have committed to Mike
Ramsey $27,000 for programming at Pacifichem 2005; it is expected that this
money will come back into the treasury based on the success of the meeting.
6.5 Graduate Fellowship: R. Dallinger has reported (in absentia) that there were
5 nine-month fellowship recipients and 6 summer fellowship recipients in
2003. There were a total of 42 applicants for 2003-04 fellowships. Dallinger
and the committee were congratulated for their exemplary work. Blount
suggested that electronic submission of applications might be considered.
6.6 Membership: Pinkston reported that Jeff Seeley has done an excellent job as
membership chair. In summary, a minigrant proposal has been submitted to
ACS as a means of increasing retention of first-year members by offering
drawings for 30 dinner credit cards for those who renew for a second year.
Other ideas are reduced subscription rates for division members for on-line
subscriptions for Anal. Chem. However, if granted, other divisions might try
to get the same benefit for their members, thus eroding ACS publications’
fiscal position. The outcome is doubtful for this reason.
6.7 Newsletter: A. Ribes reported that a number of newsletters have been
delivered to the meeting. The next edition will be the first electronic edition
of the newsletter; a grant proposal has been submitted to ACS for $2000 to
develop an email distribution list of active members. The deadline for
contributions for the Spring newsletter will be January 1, 2004. Ribes also
solicited ideas for interesting recent papers in the field that can be highlighted
in the newsletter. A number of copies of the informative newsletter from last
year remain, and these will be sent to new members by John Richardson,
along with a welcome letter from D. Pinkston.
6.8 Webpage: Roland Hirsch reported that he must be re-appointed as page
editor. A Denton/Fenselau motion to re-appoint him passed unanimously.
The same motion also re-appointed A. Ribes as Newsletter editor. Hirsch
mentioned that as a convenience issue, it would be nice to be able to search
abstracts on the Division webpage. This would involve conversion of many
PDF files. The option of including abstracts from meetings prior to 2000 was
also discussed, but this will most likely not be cost-effective. Currently the
abstracts are available on the ACS gated website, but are not searchable
across all meetings. Another suggestion is electronic submission of award
nominations, fellowships, programming suggestions, etc. McGuffin
suggested that vignettes of famous analytical chemists be added to the
newsletter; Blount suggested that this idea could be initiated as a session with
History of Chemistry Division focusing on the “Giants of Analytical
Chemistry.”
6.9 Nominating: Fenselau noted that names of potential candidates for Division
office came from very few sources; the Executive Committee should be more
helpful in nominating future candidates for officers.
6.10 Publicity: no report.
6.11 Division Archives: Richardson reported that he is currently collecting
documents from various sources to add to the Division Archives. He is also
preparing to investigate proper archiving procedures and begin sifting
through the documentation he presently has. The ultimate goal is to cull
through the material and digitally archive all that is deemed important as a
historical record of the Division.
6.12 Regional Meeting Coordination: T. Wentzel reported (in absentia) that the
program is working well; $5000 was well spent in 2003 toward programming
of four symposia at regional meetings, as well as support of travel costs for
several outside speakers. To date, $2000 has been allocated for three
symposia for 2004. There was also discussion of institution of a local
meeting liason.
6.13 Undergraduate Awards: Howard Dewald brought up (in absentia) the
question of the appropriateness of the 8-month paper subscription of
Analytical Chemistry in light of modern electronic access of journals. The
committee decided that awarding a certificate plus the 8-month paper
subscription should continue.
6.14 FACSS Liason: Pinkston noted that we now have 3 FACSS delegates. In
2004 and 2005, we will have 2 delegates.
6.15 EAS Liason: Wilkins noted that Don Bly has solicited nominations from
the Committee for the EAS Analytical Chemistry Award.
7. Reports from Affiliated Organizations: DAC-FECS: Pinkston noted that Andy
Zander, the past liason, has stepped down. Blount noted that the international
connection be preserved, and Pinkston canvassed the committee for ideas of a
replacement liason; Hirsch suggested that someone in Europe might act as our
liason. Is FECS the right organization for affiliation?
8. Old Business
8.1 Award Sponsorship: C. Fenselau reported on the need to obtain award
sponsorship for the Spectrochemical Award earlier.
8.2 2002 Technical Division Annual Review: Pinkston congratulated the
Division on a fine showing. He also noted that he will take on the task of
revising the Officer’s Handbook, as this was noted as a needed improvement
in the review.
8.3 Should symposium organizers who are not speakers receive free registration?
Wilkins felt that the organizers should receive free registration; Fenselau felt
that the organizers should be invited to speak, thus circumventing the
problem. Therefore, all invited speakers and symposia organizers will
receive free registration, at the lowest level possible, beginning Fall 2004.
This motion, made by Wilkins and seconded by Denton, passed.
9. New Business
9.1 Kolthoff presentations: Pinkston mentioned that several of last year’s
Kolthoff awardees did not present in our Division; A. Ribes reported that
these people were reimbursed for their travel expenses. It must be made clear
in the future that all awardees must present in the Division poster session.
9.2 Mentoring Program: Pinkston noted that underrepresented minorities are
encouraged to become more active in leadership roles in ACS. Blount
suggested that Cynthia Larive be consulted as Education Chair to coordinate
our division’s efforts in this area.
9.3 Denton suggested increasing the per diem for certain officers (i.e., Chairelect) to four nights for all division officers, with that of the Chair being
increased to six nights. A Hirsch/Wilkins motion to this effect passed
unanimously.
9.4 On a Hirsch/Buchanan motion, the following was passed: “Whereas the
journal Analytical Chemistry has achieved its 75th year of publication, and
represents the best of the science of analytical chemistry, it is moved that the
Division of Analytical Chemistry congratulate the editors and staff of the
Journal on reaching this significant milestone.” A letter of congratulations
mentioning the motion will be drafted by Richardson and sent to the staff of
Analytical Chemistry. It was also passed that appreciation be given to John
Richardson, outgoing Secretary, Catherine Fenselau, Past Chair, and David
Pinkston, Chair, for their exemplary service to the division.
9.5 On a Hirsch/Buchanan motion, the meeting was adjourned at 4:40 pm.
Minutes respectfully submitted,
John N. Richardson,
Secretary, ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry